The use of auxinic herbicides to control undesired vegetation in a field of an auxin herbicide tolerant cotton crop may cause transient injury to the auxin herbicide tolerant cotton crop that could result in delayed development. Visible transient injury may include a combination of leaf droop, leaf rolling, and petiole curvature—together referred to as epinasty. Other transient injury that may be visible 10 to 14 days after application includes leaf strapping, malformation, and epinasty on leaves. Such transient, early-season injury may result in an undesirable extension of the time for the cotton crop to mature, causing the grower to incur additional expenses and possibly reducing overall crop yield.
The present invention addresses and solves the problems associated with crop injury that results from the application of an auxinic herbicide to control undesirable vegetation in a field containing an auxin herbicide tolerant crop including delayed earliness resulting from the early-season herbicide injury.